A side from being the frontman of Bleachers and a super-talented musician, Jack Antonoff is maybe best known for being one of Taylor Swift’s most prolific producing partners. I mean, “Out of the Woods?” “August?” “KARMA?” It doesn’t get more iconic!
Anyway, these two have become friends for life thanks to their frequent collaborations—to the point where they straight-up have a secret handshake.
So yes, CLEARLY, the time has come for a timeline/lesson in How to Befriend Taylor Swift™.
November 11, 2012
Tay and Jack meet at the MTV EMAs!
Dave Hogan/MTV 2012//Getty Images
According to a 2019 profile of Jack in newjersey.com (love that for him), they bonded over their love for “Only You” by Yazoo. Jack also spoke a bit about the meeting on Larry King:
December 5, 2012
A month after meeting at the EMAs, Tay and Jack run into each other again at a Grammys party. Awkward photos are taken!
Larry Busacca//Getty Images
October 21, 2013
Clearly Taylor and Jack bonded behind the scenes, because Taylor releases “Sweeter Than Fiction,” her first collaboration with Jack.
October 14, 2014
Jack opens up about working with Taylor on 1989, saying, “Will one day write an essay on the different production I used on the song + how much working with taylor on it has meant to me. she’s a wonderful artist.” TRUER WORDS.
December 13, 2014
Jack attends Tay’s birthday party:
May 7, 2015
In an interview with Elle, Taylor reveals the song “You Are in Love” was inspired by Jack and his then-girlfriend Lena Dunham.
“I’ve never had that, so I wrote that song about things that Lena [Dunham] has told me about her and Jack [Antonoff]. That’s just basically stuff she’s told me. And I think that that kind of relationship—God, it sounds like it would just be so beautiful—would also be hard. It would also be mundane at times.”
Jack and Lena end up breaking up, but still. Cute.
February 15, 2016
Taylor and Jack are spotted celebrating Grammys night together:
Backgrid
February 16, 2016
And then they celebrate winning Album of the Year!
~ 2017
Taylor releases “Call It What You Want” and drops a BTS video showing the creation of the song with Jack at his home studio:
May 24, 2017
Jack is profiled by the New York Times, and Taylor gives a gushing quote, saying, “Sometimes, he sits at the piano and we both just start ad-libbing and the song seems to create itself. His excitement and exuberance about writing songs is contagious. He’s an absolute joy. That’s why everyone loves him. I personally wouldn’t trust someone who didn’t.”
March 9, 2018
Jack tells the story of writing “New Year’s Day” with Taylor during an appearance on The Tonight Show:
December 14, 2019
Tay drops pics from her birthday—which, as ever, include Jack!
November 25, 2020
Taylor drops Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on Disney+, which features some fun Jack moments—including this (courtesy of a fan edit):
March 16, 2021
Jack writes THE most loved-up post about Taylor after once again winning a buncha Grammys (winning Grammys is kinda their thing).
July 30, 2021
Jack speaks to NME about Taylor, saying, “I’ve seen her change the music industry firsthand. She’s amazing for being a champion and making things better for the generations to come. She has a long history of rightly exposing some real darkness in the music industry. And I’m personally thankful for it, outside of our friendship and working relationship, just as an artist. She’s asked me some questions a lot of people are afraid to ask.”
September 3, 2021
Jack and Tay chill on a boat and drink wine on TikTok:
November 12, 2021
Another Taylor’s Version drop, another super-sweet Jack post!
May 16, 2022
Jack does an interview with the New Yorker and credits Taylor for taking a chance on him: “I’d been trying to produce for a while, but there was always some industry herb going, ‘That’s cute, but that’s not your lane.’ Taylor was the first person with the stature to go, ‘I like the way this sounds, I’m putting it on my album’—and then suddenly, I was allowed to be a producer.”
October 21, 2022
Taylor drops Midnights and dedicates a whole post to Jack, calling him her “friend for life.”
October 25, 2022
November 7, 2022
She then drops Jack’s version of “Anti-Hero,” but more importantly we get this very cute pic of their friendship.
February 5, 2023
Taylor and Jack hit up the Grammy Awards together, as they do:
Kevin Mazur//Getty Images
April 10, 2023
Taylor is spotted with Jack at dinner in NYC shortly after news of her breakup with Joe Alwyn drops:
JosiahW / BACKGRID
May 26, 2023
Jack joins Taylor onstage for the Eras Tour! Fans go wild! Etc!
Kevin Mazur/TAS23//Getty Images
June 27, 2023
Taylor is seen leaving Electric Lady Studios after a recording session with Jack:
JosiahW / BACKGRID
August 17, 2023
Jack chats with TIME about Taylor, saying, “She’s the first person who recognized me as a producer. A lot of people are afraid to sign off on something that isn’t done by a proven person. I had written lots of songs and produced them, but they would always sort of go somewhere else. So the label or whoever could say, oh, we had this person produce it. And, you know, I put my heart and soul into that song and she said, ‘I love it.’”
August 19, 2023
Jack marries Margaret Qualley in New Jersey, and Taylor reportedly roasts them during a 15-minute toast. Her presence at the wedding also quite literally stops traffic as fans gather en masse to snap pics of her.
T.JACKSON / BACKGRID
August 27, 2023
Jack Antonoff enters the chat amid the apparent Scooter Braun mass exodus where high-profile clients like Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato reportedly part ways with him as their manager. While Scooter and Tay have been feuding since he purchased her masters in 2019 (more on that here), Jack has stayed by her side and has even helped her produce her re-recorded albums—“From the Vault” tracks and all!
While promoting a Bleachers live album recorded at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, Jack posts a pre-order link with a meme poking fun at Scootergate™ on his Instagram Stories. The meme in question includes a photo from The Sims where a Sim sits at a computer while her baby is on fire and reads, “Not now, sweetie, Mommy is trying to figure out why Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Idina Menzel just fired Scooter Braun as their manager.”
Jack Antonoff//Instagram
Jack and Taylor haven’t publicly commented on Scooter’s clients parting ways with him since the meme was posted, but we can’t help but wonder if Tay stifled a lil giggle in between her Eras Tour dates while scrolling through her queue of IG Stories.
September 12, 2023
Taylor wins the Song of the Year award for her Midnights song “Anti-Hero” at the MTV VMAs and takes a moment to gush about working with Jack on the song. On top of calling the producer “one of my best friends in the world,” she talks about how his talent is “incomprehensible” and maintains, “I’m so lucky I’ve been making music with him since we worked on an album called 1989. We’ll continue working together till 2089.”
Mike Coppola//Getty Images
We’re not crying, you are!
October 23, 2023
Tay shares an iconic reaction video of her and Jack celebrating their 2019 ~masterpiece~ “Cruel Summer” hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 four years (!!) after its release.
October 19, 2023
Another day, another Taylor’s Version drop. This time, it’s 1989, which breaks the internet and leads to this sweet post:
February 4, 2024
Jack gives Taylor a shout-out at the 2024 Grammy awards, saying, “Taylor Swift kicked that fucking door open for me” and “love you to death, Taylor.”
February 28, 2024
In a new interview with the LA Times, Jack reveals he has no problem publicly addressing anyone in Taylor’s defense. “I’m a little bitch sometimes,” he said. “But you come after my friend Taylor, you’re toast to me.” He also added that questioning Tay’s songwriting abilities “is like challenging someone’s faith in God. You just don’t go there.”
Jack also made jabs at Kanye West, whom he says “just needs his diaper changed so badly.” As for his public distaste for the artist, Jack justified his decision, saying, “It’s been a long time since I would’ve taken Kanye’s call. I’m so incredibly bored when someone doesn’t have the sauce anymore, so they go elsewhere to shock. It’s just a remarkable waste of space.” Oooof. 😬
